good morning. dramatic rescue, an american doctor kidnapped in afghanistan by the taliban is freed by coalition troops. six people were killed, two taliban leaders arrested during the dangerous mission. turning up the heat. the london hospital that received a prank call while caring for the duchess of cambridge has hars words for the australian radio station that aired that prank. this as prince william appears in public for the first time since the death of the nurse who took the call. and an emotional homecoming this 2 1/2-year-old girl going home for the very first time. she has spent her entire life in the hospital. until now. we'll tell you how she's doing. "today," sunday, december 9th, 2012.

captions paid for by nbc-universal television welcome to "today" on this sunday morning. i'm erica hill. >> and i'm willie geist in this morning for lester, he is out on assignment. good to be with all of you. the nfl starts another sunday with heavy hearts dealing with tragedy. dallas cowboys player killed in a car accident, his teammate has been charged with intoxicated manslaughter. police say alcohol was a factor in the crash. the accident comes a week after the murder/suicide involving voeian belcher of the kansas city chiefs. we'll have details from dallas in a moment. there is an emergency board meeting today for the australian radio station involved in the prank call about the duchess of cambridge's hospital stay. the meeting to address the mounting criticism and public outcry after a nurse who took

the call at that hospital died. plus, mtv well-known for its reality shows, some of them like "jersey shore" and "teen mom" have been very controversial and now one washington lawmaker wants the network to pull the plug on its new show "buck wild" before it even airs. then we'll switch gears and talk about letters being written to santa this year. >> it's that time of year when kids send their wish list to santa but this year some kids are expressing the hard times their families are going through after hurricane sandy so instead of asking for toys they want santa to bring items like clothes and other necessities like good health even. coming up i'll introduce you to some of the elves working to make those holiday wishes come true. we begin this morning in texas, police say dallas cowboys defensive lineman josh brent has been charged with vehicle lar manslaughter.

miguel almaguer. >> reporter: josh brent was charged with intoxication manslaughter after a passenger and his car, fellow teammate jerry brown was killed in an accident. >> it appears he was traveling at a high rate of speed, at which time his vehicle touched or impacted the outside curb of the service road, causing his vehicle to flip. >> reporter: brent and brown played football together at the university of illinois. while in college brent pleaded guilty to a dui in 2009. saturday, when police arrived on scene, officers say brent was pulling brown's body from the wreckage. member of the cowboys practice team, brown was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital. brent faces 2 to 20 years in prison and is expected in court today. >> our officers on scene felt as if alcohol was a contributing factor in the accident, so mr. brent was asked to perform field

sobriety tests. >> reporter: for the nfl this is the second tragedy in a week. on friday police released dash cam video of jovan belcher. >> you live here? you need to go upstairs, dude. okay. we're trying to cut you a break here. >> it has to go down as one of the darkest spans in recent nfl history. >> reporter: hours after learning of saturday's tragedy the cowboys released this statement. "our hearts and prayer answer deepest sympathies are with members of jerry's family." today the cowboys play the bengals in cincinnati, but they'll do so with a heavy heart for one teammate, while another faces charges of manslaughter. for "today," miguel almaguer, nbc news. >> hard to play a football game in the midst of all of that. in london we're learning more about the nurse who died just days after receiving a

prank phone call about the duchess of cambridge. anabel roberts is outside the church where she worked. >> reporter: good morning, erica. in the last few minutes a letter from the chairman of the radio company in australia has been released, sent to the chief executive of this hospital, where the nurse works and in it the chairman says that "we are all deeply saddened by the tragic events of the last few days" and that the company will fully cooperate with all investigations. meanwhile prince william has attended his first event since the news of kate's pregnancy broke. the flash bulbs popped to prince william as he arrived at a gala fund-raiser but for once they were directed only at him, not his wife, who is still at home resting. shaking hands is part and parcel of his job but this father-to-be has more on his mind than most. surrounded by titans from the world of tennis, he seemed relaxed. but for the couple, this has

been a week of contra. the delight of kate's pregnancy that her acute morning sickness is passing was eclipsed of the death of jacintha saldanha who was on duty and picked up the pranked call from two australian deejays. today the radio company that employs them held a meeting, following a sternly worded letter from the london hospital describing the decision to broadcast the call as appalling. the immediate consequences of these premeditated and ill considered actions was the humiliation of two dedicated nurses who were just doing their job. the jacintha saldanha's husband has paid tribute to his wife on facebook. "i am devastated with the tragic loss of my life in tragic circumstances." this is a tragedy that touches three continents. in india her sister-in-law says

she was beautiful. in britain a nurse who used to work with her came to her defense. >> if it's somebody's place with a clearance policy, i don't know what i would have done or anybody else must have done. >> reporter: london police have told australian authorities they may be interested in speaking to the deejays about this prank. now in this letter, the chairman goes on to say the outcome was unforeseeable and very regrettable and that the company is taking immediate action and reviewing the broadcast and processes involved. i understand that the deejays themselves are in quite a fragile state but they are very keen to speak to the media and that we may be hearing from them as soon as tomorrow. >> annabel roberts, thank you. a check of other top stories we turn over to jenna. >> we'll start with the dramatic rescue in eastern afghanistan where an american doctor abducted by the taliban five days ago has been freed.

dr. dilip joseph of colorado springs was rescued by u.s. and afghan troops overnight after intelligence showed he was in danger of eminent danger or possible death. dr. joseph was seen in the video posted, there you go, by "the morning star" earlier this morning as the medical director of the colorado-based humanitarian organization, he was in afghanistan overseeing a medical clinic. south africans are praying for the health of former president nelson mandela. he was amitted to a hospital saturday for tests. mandela is 94 years old,'s in frail health. he hasn't made public appearances for a few years now. president jacob zuma visited mandela today and said he's doing well and there is no cause for an alarm. in an attempt to defuse the escalating crisis in egypt,

mohamed morsi is rescind iing h new law. a new report says new york routinely ignored warning to prepare for a catastrophic hurricane. the warning started back in 1978 when a law was passed requiring the creation of a disaster plan. never happened. largely because of tight budgets or the lack of political drive to prepare for a storm many thought would never hit. it hit. he said he always thought he'd be the next college baseball player. turned out the guy loves football. johnny manziel is the first freshman to win the heisman trophy. he took the top honors saturday night after a record-breaking debut including an upset victory against number one alabama back in november. finally, santa's elves may have competition in japan. penguins at an aquarium have

taken on the role of santa's little helpers. in the evening they have the special task of switching on the christmas lights, but before you get excited, by day, all they do is lounge around and do little to nothing so basically it's sort of their civic duty to do the whole lights thing. that is the news. back to erica and willie. >> you say about time. >> you're cute, we love you, put you on tv every other day the least you can do -- >> a little something. >> come on. >> what's with the santa getup? the costumes worked well for them. >> black and white and red all over. >> we are on fire this morning. thanks. dylan is here with a check of the weather. >> we are talking about a good deal of snow in portions of minnesota, back through the dakotas as well. we have blizzard warnings, not so much for a lot of snow back through the dakotas but more because of the two to six inches of snow getting tossed around so we are seeing reduced

adviseibilities. most of the heavier snow is falling across minneapolis and duluth and wisconsin. we should pick up around six to nine inches in the minneapolis area, also in duluth, minnesota and wisconsin should pick up about three to six inches. that's a look at the >> areas of showers you have to watch for today, maybe even fog. temperatures holding instead in the upper 40's to low 50's. the seven-day forecast shows warming up to the 60's tomorrow the 50's the rest of the week. >> and that's your latest forecast. willie? >> dylan, thank you. we are 23 days away from the miss fiscal cliff deadline. can congress and the white house reach a deal? david gregory is moderator of "meet the press."

good morning. >> willie, good morning. >> we've heard a lot of tough talk, pes sichl surrousimism su negotiations. you spent time on capitol hill and came away optimistic. why? >> what's changed from the last debacle speaker boehner has more room within his own ranks. the republicans have done away with the feeling they have to oppose the president because the election is coming and they want to deny him a big victory. there's more room to let the taxes go up if he can get a bigger return on cutting medicare. that's what conservatives want, they come out publicly on "morning joe" saying that we should do that to get a bigger deal, that's part of what's going into the negotiations. the question is whether the president is willing to give up on that. lot of liberals don't want to give too much in the way of medicare cuts. >> one of speaker boehner's guiding principles, being for republicans and conservatives at large raising taxes is not good for the economy. how does speaker boehner go back

to his caucus and say i got a good deal even though we did raise taxes on the top earners? >> it come backs to saying what we've been able to do is deal with the spending problem in a dramatic way, deal with entitlement cuts in a dramatic way and lay a framework for broader entitlement reform and even more tax reform potentially next year as doing this deal, as opposed to sort of setting back and resisting the president and letting him force through a tax increase on his own which he appears to be able to do. >> unemployment rate came out this week, the lowest of president obama's presidency, a new poll from quinnipiac shows him at a three-year high in his approval rating. how much did those numbers play into his negotiating position? >> i think they play a lot. there's a reason why the president says sure we'll go over the cliff, this is what we're going to do and he goes right to the public. there's bad blood from last summer still in terms of how these two guys negotiate mind the scenes. secondly the president is also saying to his base i'm going to

go out there and i'll be tough because i've won the election, i've got people behind me, there's popular support for tax increases and i think he takes that and uses that right now. believe me, republicans get it. they see this as numbers, they understand the impact of the election. they get that, and i think that's why they're willing to deal. >> all of this will be front and center on "meet the press." who do you have coming up? >> senator dick durbin and representative kevin mccarthy, hopefully we'll get a clearer picture beyond what we're hearing publicly. thank you. this flu season could be one of the worst in nearly a decade. five children have died from flu so far this year. our chief science correspondence robert bazel has the story. >> reporter: with the season starting early, children's hospital in memphis is feeling the first wave. >> we've seen more than 200 cases of flu in the hospital this week and we're admitting eight to ten kids a day. we expect it to accelerate, to

get worse before it gets better in the next few weeks. >> reporter: schoolchildren are not only vulnerable, they play a big role in spreading the flu. >> when you have all those kids getting together, they tend to pass the virus back and forth, they all get sick in the school and bring it home into the community. >> the way to protect those people is to vaccinate the people around them. so vaccinating more children reduces the risk of older people in the community of getting the flu. >> reporter: health officials are urging everyone, adults and children over 6 months old, to get vaccinated, and officials emphasized there's plenty to go around and it's never too late to get it. for "today," robert bazell, nbc news, new york. up next on "today," hear why one washington lawmakers wants mtv to pull the plug on its latest reality show before it even airs, right after this. very sore looking kinda blistery. like somebody had set a bag of hot charcoal on my neck.

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protest before it airs. >> reporter: mtv is at it again with another reality series following the highs but mostly lows of teens gone wild with cameras rolling. >> we're young, free, and buck wild. >> reporter: "buckwild" centers around a group of friends living it up in a west virginia town. >> this is how you make tater salad in west virginia. >> reporter: the southern version of "the jersey shore" where snooki and the situation became household names for what they did on camera and off. >> i never cheated on him. >> these shows get crazy and while we may be fascinated by this subculture of american society, more than anything, we do love a train wreck. >> reporter: "buckwild" doesn't debut until january but it is already sparking controversy for scenes like this. >> we raise hell. >> i can see down your shirt. >> and when in doubt we just buck it. >> i know the heart and soul of west virginia. >> reporter: west virginia senator joe manchin sent a

letter to mtv, it plays on ugly and coaxes young people into shameful behavior and now want to profit from it. >> down here with my friends we go hard. >> reporter: while mtv isn't commenting on the letter, the buzz is bound to draw curiosity. >> when you have a senator complaining about it, for a network like mtv, that's publicity pay dirt. >> reporter: other reality shows like "here comes honey booboo" "duck dynasty" and "mob wives" hit pay dirt, highlighting extreme life styles and personalities, and while west virginia wants to see if their country roads will be a little more crowded, the debate over "buckwild" is already hitting home. for "today," michelle franzen, nbc news, new york. >> and as we heard in the piece there, probably just gives them the publicity they're looking for here. >> it's probably going to end up

working in their favor. >> usually does. still to come on the sunday edition of "today," the heartwarming story of one little girl about to spend her first christmas at home, her third christmas but the first one at home. but first these messages. ♪ every little thing has meaning ♪ ♪ i woke up to a light bulb on ♪ every little thing is possible now ♪ [ female announcer ] we've added a touch of philadelphia cream cheese to our kraft natural cheese to make it creamier so whatever you make isn't just good, it's amazing. ♪ ...is amazing with the love that i found ♪ ♪ yes, i'm a jewelry store. and yes, i'm talking to you. mike here needs a necklace. but not just any necklace. he needs a "honey, i love you even more than the day we got married" necklace. well, i don't want to brag, but my selection is larger than ordinary jewelry stores, with truly unique pieces you won't find just anywhere,

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>> this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning, i'm kerry cavanaugh. the time is 8:26. here's a look at the top stories. baltimore city police are investigating a murder that in north baltimore. officers say shortly before 3:00 p.m. saturday they found a man shot in the 800 block of brooks lane near druid hill park. the victim was taken to the he died a short time later. investigators are still working to identify a suspect and motive in that case. and police continue their investigation into the murder of a man found shot to death in west baltimore friday night. officers were called to the 2300 block of westwood avenue near ruxton avenue around 10:00 where they found a 22-year-old man suffering from a gunshot wound. the victim was rushed to shock

trauma where he died. police are working to identify a suspect in that case. and hundreds of military families are enjoying christmas trees this morning, all thanks to a local business. the staff of the hubbard funeral home donated the trees through the national guard. yesterday, they gave away close to 300 firs. >> it's been overwhelming at times, actually. some of the people are really thankful for getting the tree. i didn't -- i knew it was a good idea. i didn't realize how appreciative these soldiers and families would be to receive a christmas tree. >> this was the first year for that giveaway. back in a moment with a look at

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>> good morning. we have been drag rain showers across the area today coming in out of virginia and now moving in across the northern part of maryland. this is all as a stationary front is sitting right over us today and bringing a lot of unsettled weather. because it's a stationary front, we're on the boundary between the north ando warm air to the south. today, temperatures in the middle for baltimore but a cold front is on the way, moving through the area monday night and tuesday. today holding instead, upper 40's to low 50's with scattered showers, areas of fog to watch for, as well, looking into the seven-day forecast, warming into the 60's tomorrow, more showers possible, even thunderstorms by evening hours, lingering shower tuesday morning and only 49 for the high. we stay cool but dry the rest of the week. >> thanks, ava and thank you for

joining us. 11 news sunday morning starts in 25 minutes. ♪ i have a little dreidel we're back this sunday, december 9th, 2012, nice crowd, shaping up to be a pretty nice sunday, we wish you a happy hanukkah and happy holidays. >> "dreidel, dreidel, dreidel." >> a nice big crowd probably out doing some shopping today, i'm willie geist. lester is on assignment alongside erica hill, jenna wolfe and dylan dreyer. great story of a young girl who spent almost every day of her 2 1/2 years on this earth in a hospital, until recently she's

out now. we're going to have the story of her emotional homecoming and first christmas at home. >> looking forward to that. also as we know the most wonderful time of year could come with awkward moments so we'll try to solve some of your holiday social etiquette dilemmas for you this morning. >> then children from around the world are so used to mailing their "dear santa" letters adressed to the north pole, many kids from this area are writing to santa to express this year the hardships their families are experiencing, so instead of toys, a lot of these kids are asking for basic necessities, they're asking for clothes, they're asking for good health. we're going to meet some of the elves, some of the wonderful volunteers who come in and try to make some of those wishes come true. it's a really nice story. >> little help for santa this year. >> we're talking about gifts from high tech to gifts for your pets. we will show you some lower priced versions of some of the more expensive items on your holiday shopping list. >> do people get gifts for their pets? is that a thing? >> i do that. >> i thought you were saying parents. i couldn't hear. >> and parents, parents and

pets. >> is this an issue do, we get gifts for our parents? okay. >> we'll do some pet shopping coming up. first a quick check of the weather. >> it is a little chilly in new york city for the shoppers but we are going to see a nice warmup today. happy birthday to nora. >> she's my favorite daughter-in-law. >> favorite. how many daughter-in-laws do you have? >> one. >> we're getting snow today! woo! >> we are getting snow all through wisconsin and minnesota, we've got really chilly temperatures also working into the dakotas but right now on top of that we have to talk about the potential for severe storms through kentucky, through tennessee, look at that from memphis down houston, back into waco, texas, we could see an isolated tornado develop later on this evening, it's this powerful cold front with rain and storms, snow to the north. we could end up with six to nine inches of snow across minneapolis later on today and then tomorrow that cold front pushes eastward. it loses the cold air that will produce snow, rain into northern

new england and stretching down to the carolinas. also into northwestern georgia as well and the cold air surges in to the northern plains. >> areas of showers you have to watch for today, maybe even fog. temperatures holding instead in the upper 40's to low 50's. the seven-day forecast shows warming up to the 60's tomorrow the 50's the rest of the week. >> and it is sunday now, and that means tonight is sunday night football night in america, and two years in a row we are talking about the lions taking on the packers with snow on lambeau field. we could end up with about four inches of snow in green bay.

the snow showers should taper off through the second half of the game but it will be chilly, temperatures 27 to 31 degrees for sunday night, football night in america. it will be a special christmas this year for one 2 1/2-year-old girl in texas who spent her entire life in the hospital. until recent ly adalynn willett lived as a patient and now she's home just in time for the holidays. >> still unbelievable, it's hard to imagine her sitting with us in her living room. it's amazing. >> reporter: amazing because there were times her parents, brian willett and serafina sevallos because her doctors feared she'd never see this now. she was born with her intestines and liver outside her body. she underwent 28 surgeries to put her back together, one for every month of her life.

for all of her two and a half years from her birth until just this month, adalynn had been a patient where doctors treated her for a rare birth defect. >> it's basically when the covering of the abdomen doesn't form. >> reporter: her parents documented her long stay. two birthdays, two christmases, three thanksgivings, all within the sterile walls of a hospital, but then this month, doctors announced good news. >> it's incredible the resilience of children is just incredible. >> reporter: adalynn was able to go home. she took her first car ride, a long one, 150 miles to her new home in abilene. >> she was like oh, my goodness, like you could tell her face was like why is that moving so fast.

>> she was looking at us, she was like -- she was going what? >> reporter: but once the family was home the emotions of what they had been through, two and a half years of yearning for a healthy child came rushing back. >> when you imagine having a kid, you imagine them being perfectly healthy and being able to, you know, take them wherever you want. >> reporter: adalynn will be tethered to feeding tubes and monitors for the next few years. by the time she's school age doctors say she'll be on her way to a more normal life. life full of love. >> i love you. >> reporter: for "today," charles hadlock, nbc news, abilene, texas. >> once again here's willie. christmas just around the corner, children now sending their wish lists up to the north pole. this year, many of those letters are coming from hurricane sandy victims. jenna is back with more. >> hey, willie. the letters are addressed to

santa, just "dear santa" and some of them really show what a tough year it's been for many kids. the letters begin with a passionate "dear santa." >> i'm 11 years old and been really good this year. >> reporter: what follows are often emotional requests from model cars to miracles. >> what i really want is that you return my mom's health so she won't be sick anymore. >> reporter: each holiday season hundreds of thousands of letters are sent from across the country addressed to, well, to santa claus and for 100 years now fulfilling some of those wishes has been a tradition of the u.s. post office. >> this area is where we send the gifts out. >> reporter: keith fontana is keafe elf of "operation santa" at new york's main post office where last year some 500,000 letters to old st. nick came through. there are thousands of letters here. >> there's roughly about 700,

800 to each tray. >> and this is all letters to santa claus. each letter is open, read, catalogued and then photocopied and offered to a willing volunteer elf. for more than 25 years, friends beth and nancy have been buying gifts for "operation santa." >> it's the spirit of christmas. i think kids deserve to have santa come on christmas morning and leave them something. >> reporter: but in this year's batch of letters, the devastation of hurricane sandy has some wishing to find just basic needs under their christmas tree. >> "dear santa claus, my name is kenya, i'm 8 years old and this year it's been really difficult for my family because hurricane sandy crashed in. dear santa my name is justin i'd like for to you get me a coat, size 14. dear santa, i am really sad because the hurricane sandy made my parents wasted a lot of money, so they are not going to be able to buying me a gift for

christmas." >> reporter: oh. i mean, that kid can't be older than what, 6 or 7? >> just the way it's written you can see it's a very young kid. >> reporter: letters clearly telling the struggle of living in the disaster zone. >> santa, we have three weeks with no gas, no light, no water, no heat. >> reporter: parents trying to keep the christmas spirit alive in a place where simply surviving has become the priority. single mother herself, alexa donovan sees the need in letters she sees each year. >> they want to do for their children what i do for my child. >> reporter: now her grown daughter and family make "operation santa" their holiday tradition. >> our family doesn't exchange presents. >> we stopped doing that. we were doing more of this. >> reporter: more is the feeling shared by other letter elves. >> i started with one and this year i'm up to two so next year it will be three and hopefully the year after that even more. >> reporter: just everyday volunteers who understand the

true meaning of christmas. so there are 26 post offices across the country that take part in this operation santa. to find one near you to become an elf yourself to go in, get a letter and do this, which is a great thing, about to beanelf.org for more information. >> you still have a couple weeks to do it. up next from gift giving to holiday parties we've got your awkward holiday dilemmas and there are a lot of them, answered, after these messages. sales are at an all-time low!

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countdown to the holidays" we are tackling your awkward dilemmas. it's that time of year for parties and gift-giving and awkwardness, politics, family feuds can lead to sticky situations. philip galanes of "social qs" how to survive the quagmires of today. good morning, glad to have you here. we'll get right into this one with a viewer e-mail from teresa in chicago "i'm engaged and getting married next fall. we want to keep the wedding very small. this christmas we'll be seeing a lot of my family, many of whom we do not plan on inviting to the wedding. if the subject of the wedding comes up, details are discussed, should i make it clear they're not invited or just gloss it over and not mention specifics." >> clarity is so important so i think you tell them we're having a very small wedding but a great thing to do is to have a party with the family later, so we'll

celebrate together, do something together but not -- >> no way. i say you say that it's a tiny wedding, you move along. you don't talk about the guest list, you don't talk about anything. >> absolutely, i agree with you. >> because think about it, how much do you want to hear about a party you're not invited to. i see willie welling up and he's not even a member of the family. >> i'm never invited so i can speak from experience. i'm with you, hariette, you got to take it head-on, because things where people are whispering behind each other's backs. >> tiny is the watch word. >> next one is a viewer video. let's take a look. >> i get lots of christmas cards from other families. all of a sudden the card comes in from a family that's not really inner circle. do i have to now send a card from my family to them to reciprocate? >> that's a good one. you get this a lot every holiday, ooh, i didn't send them one. >> a christmas card is not like

an invoice, pay on demand. it doesn't need to be -- >> are you sure? >> doesn't need to be reciprocated. if you like the folks go for it. one caveat that really comes into my mailbox, if you're going to send christmas cards, write three or four words personally. >> not just the actual card. >> otherwise it feels like you're getting a mass mailing. >> cute pictures myself kids on a card, do i still have to write something? >> yes, love erica. >> hey, you wanted to have kids. it's on your plate. >> you've been asking to borrow my kids, lady. >> it's like you're spamming people. >> you don't have to send a card if you've received, you say thank you. thank you is so underrated. >> wait, can you send an ecard if you get a real card? >> total. >> really? >> and then erica can type in a few, merry, here are the kids this year. >> she doesn't have time for that. >> people loo w.h.o. liho like

and appreciate them. >> know your audience. dylan is outside on the plaza, another question from someone from the crowd. >> ali from davidson, north carolina about regifting. >> what if the person you gave the regift to likes the present but wants it in a different size so they ask for the gift receipt? >> oh, that's a really good question. >> this is why you shouldn't give clothing unless -- sometimes not even to your family, you just say i don't have the receipt, i'm so sorry. >> ali is probably a little young to watch clint eastwood but when it comes to regifting it's very "are you feeling lucky?" i don't care about clothing. they can have read the book, they can already have that quasi-pen, but if you can help a gift that can't be traced back find a happy home, go for it. >> it's such an awkward thing. i feel like don't touch the whole concept of regifting

because somehow, some way it will be a "seinfeld" moment and it will come back to you. >> clothing in general is a tough gift i think. it's just a tough thing. >> more importantly make sure you inspect it like a csi investigator to get the original christmas card out of there. >> you don't want it inscribed to somebody else. >> make sure it doesn't say 2011 on it. >> like erica h. 2011. >> it's almost described like a drug transaction, make sure you can't trace it back. >> happy holidays, right? >> thank you both. we're back after this. i knew it'd be tough on our retirement savings, especially in this economy. but with three kids, being home more really helped. man: so we went to fidelity. we talked about where we were and what we could do. we changed our plan and did something about our economy. now we know where to go for help if things change again. call or come in today

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♪ we just want to celebrate all

day and night singing a-yo ♪ this morning on "today celebrates the holidays" we have the lower priced versions of the more expensive items that may be on your list for someone else. "today's" financial editor jean chatzky, nice to see. >> nice to see you too. only 15% of people haven't finished shopping. >> i haven't started. >> we've got it all here. >> i'm glad you're here. one thing that is big we've been hearing a lot about, tablets, the ipad mini gets a lot of attention these days, but it's a little bit expensive. >> $329 for the ipad mini. this is the kindle fire hd, and interestingly, when you look at the reviews they each have things in their favor, battery life for the kindle, apps for the ipad mini, you have apps made just for the ipad so you're not taking iphone apps and stretching them. the ipad is a little lighter. >> let's fire this one up. i don't know if we can. i don't know where the button is. oh, well. i should know. we got one of these for my mom

last year. anyway, so you would say in this instance -- >> i would say in this instance you could go either way. the resolution is a little bit better on the kindle as well. >> interesting. >> look at the features that matter to you. >> it's $329 versus $199. now we come to what i like to call dishes for cold weather cooking. i love big pots. >> you want to make julia's dishes, you need a dutch oven. this is the one you'll pass down to your grandchildren but it's $305. lot of money. if you're not a super duper cook and you want the lecreuset to look good on your table, this is on sale for $79 and just as heavy. >> is there a big difference besides the name? >> this is the classic and again if you look at the reviews sometimes people suggest that one chips a little bit more easily than the other. if you take care of them, that's the key. >> you could pass either one of these down to your grandkids.

these are beautiful earrings but a big difference in price, talking what almost 200 versus -- >> versus $68. these of the ipilita, mini rock candy and smoky quartz, this is nordstrom's new line. this is 18 carat gold, this is 18 carat gold plated brass. you make your call based on your price point. >> both of them are beautiful. chocolate can range so much in price. >> yes. >> so this set we see here is about $100. >> right, this is from gearharts, in charlottesville, virginia, it's on our table because somebody sent them to me last year and they are awesome. if you want chocolates at a lower price this is from brooklyn, lilibet, this collection is $50, season sweetings. they're very different. these have more spices in the mix, some of these caramels have chocolate truffles.

it's an interesting combination and you pick based on your price. >> these are fancy. >> this someone very fancy. >> so this is gorgeous, it's also $250. >> that's right, it's from sears, it is metal made and it's got pedals, it's very fred flintstone, reminds me of the station wagon we used to drive around as we were kids. this is the radio flyer bumper car, it's $44, could you buy two of them. i wouldn't suggest allowing your kids to bump into each other but they could. >> two great options there. for the dog, the loved one in your life. >> that's right. two beds with different price points. they both look comfy. >> these are tempur-pedics for your dog. >> the memory foam, right? >> this one is for a pet who is aging, needs some help with their joints. it's $240. you have from orvis. this one is from $44.95, from

p petco. >> i think we have one of these. these dogs look great and quiet, incredibly well behaved. >> finally gorgeous robes modeled by two gorgeous people. >> this is 12 gauge, cashmere. how do you like it. >> cashmere! >> you're not giving it back, are you? >> it's $299. >> so the answer is no. >> and willie is in our fleece robe, this one is from brookstone and it is about one-fifth of the price. >> and also a size medium we should pint out. little snug. >> mine is extra large. >> mom and dad needs something to wear to breakfast. >> both great options. we'll be back after these messages. thank you. for what? when things were tough, you kept believing in me... you helped make this happen. thank you. [ jane ] behind every open heart is a story.

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"today's" 19th annual toy drive in full swing and we're doing pretty darned well so far. $22 million in toys already collected, and we're back at it this morning with our good friends at play hut, this is jenna rosenburg. thank you for being here. tell us about your donation today. >> thank you so much on behalf of playhut we're thrilled to donate toys to thousands of

children around the country. playhut is famous for pop-up tents, and mystics vampire doll this is year so vampires are so hot, we're so happy that we help people and help children. playhut loves children, they've been in the toy business for 20 years and they're so proud to donate their mystics and pop-up tents to children this year. >> great to be able to do it on the plaza. this is a big gift for you to be here, too today. >> this is playhut's first time being on the "today" show toy drive and hopefully we'll be able to continue that every single year. >> first of many, we look forward to it. >> yeah, these are transformational beautiful fashion dolls so they're regular school girls by day and suisse of their red transformational fashion dolls so they have two faces, like some high school girls, right? >> yes indeed. i remember those days fondly. >> thank you so much. to all of you happy holidays. if you want to contribute go to

today.com and help us with our toy drive. >> coming up next at 11 news, superintendent of baltimore county public schools dr. dallas dance will join us for q&a and holiday decorations can make a home for festive but can be dangerous if you're not careful. >> still concerns on the roads. fog may be lifting but rain continues. details in the insta-weather plus f